When power games go beyond constitutional limits in any way, ultimately it hurts liberal democracy. Our country has chosen the liberal democratic system of government, and it should go without saying that any attempt to tamper with the basic elements of the liberal democratic system, or remove the central aspects of the people's rights and freedom is essentially the same as acting to damage the constitution.
If Millennium Democratic Party presidential hopeful Roh Mu-hyun agrees with this premise of democratic constitutions, he should state a clear position about the comments he has made regarding the current controversy over whether or not he ever talked about closing down a daily newspaper. On Sunday, explaining what he may have said about closing the Dong-A Ilbo, Roh actually said "If I talked about any newspaper closing, it would have been about the Chosun Ilbo," and then made a public pledge of sorts; "If I become the MDP's presidential candidate, I'll probably end up fighting the Chosun Ilbo." These comments alone are enough to make you doubt whether you are actually hearing them come from someone running a campaign to become the presidential candidate of the ruling party, and eventually the president of a liberal democratic state.
Roh surely understands that the freedom of the press is a central element to the freedom of thought guaranteed by our constitution. He therefore needs to give a clear explanation about what he means when he says that "if" he ever discussed having a newspaper closed, he might have been talking about the Chosun. Does he mean to say that if elected, he will pursue either an alteration or abolishment of the current constitution, or does he think that under the current constitution those in power will still be able to close any newspaper they want, when they want. Whatever his position may be, it clearly is not in agreement with the majority of the country, which continues to believe in liberal democracy.
Being a political party that professes "middle-of-the-road reform," the MDP needs to issue an official position about whether Roh's view of the press and the constitution are consistent with the party platform, and also about whether this is consistent with the legal system of the Republic of Korea.
(April 9, 2002)
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